The great beer dispute

i really dont like this thread

I was happy drinking my caramalised nasty brewed british lager.. before I found out it was crap.

Now Im looking at the colour saying...'is that caramel'? 'were you brewed too quickly'? etc

just WHAT IS a 4 pack that I can buy from tescos (lager please) that isnt bollocks?

please dont suggest some off the wall 'landlords spotty bum' type drink that I wont even be able to get!

 

duvel or hoegaarden grand cru are both sold in tescos alongside the landlords spotty bum ale.

 

yeah, lovely beers...i just buy wine now, except in pubs tho!

 

Two very similar brews - one simply called "Czech Lager" from the Co-op and the other called Vratislav from Tescos - both £1.09 for a 500 ml bottle and both very similar and equally as good as Budweiser Budvar (decent Czech beer not the grim US "Bud", usually goes for around £1.45 a bottle). Both of these Budvar-alikes are very good value and very good beer (actually I have sneaky suspicion they may actually BE Budvar, but I'm not sure).

 

I'd say Vratislav from Tesco's is a good and cheap alternative to Budvar, but I'd still reckon Budvar is a better beverage, though not by much.

If you're a lager drinker I'd personally recommend Budvar or Pilsner Urquel for easy supermarket availability and resonable price - ASDA usually offer Urquel v cheap.

Urquel is a slightly more bitter, paler and slightly lower strength, well, Pilsner - with a creamier head and a little more fragrance. Budvar has less of a head, is richer in colour and alcohol, and a deeper, more rounded lager beer flavour (is the word palette just wrong when we're talking about beer?). IME you can sink either all all night long and not expect much if any of a hangover (naturally assuming you didnt move to Vadka or Brondy of course).

 

yeah, i like the co-op czech beer too!

 

I'd say there's hardly anything in it and suspect in a taste test pepsi style - whichever was "Brand A", Budvar, Vratislav or the Coop special would come top. the fact that the latter two are 30p a bottle cheaper tips the balance in their favour

All three of these have a maltier character than Urquell. They are a different style of lager and have more in common with Munich style Lagers than Urquell which is the original Pilsner and like all proper pilsners (not the nothing to do with pilsner at all we too frequently get) is more astringent and more hop bitter than the Budweis style lagers. Personally I prefre Budvar to Urquell - I think its mebbe a bit more satisfying.

PS. You might think its crazy, but Budvar definitely tastes different and better in the larger brown bottles than the smaller green ones. I have heard hopped beer is somewhat light sensitive and if so brown bottles could make all the difference. My taste buds certainly tell me there's something in it. Anyone else noticed this?

 

I find that if you get the brown bottles, then draw round the outside with a green felt pen it tastes better still

 

Now that couldn't possibly work ... where's the science dammit

 

I think he's referring to the fact that a green felt tip on the outside of a cd makes them sound better...

clever joke, leonard

 

I know. Of course if you freeze the bottles first ...

 

it all in the lids imo - they gotta be made from silver...

 

thanks for all the suggestions!

this vratislav - it doesnt taste like budweiser does it?

I just ask because of the 'budvar' thing.. I remember hearing once that 'budvar' is like budweiser or something?

I know its supposed to be the 'king of beers', but it always tasted like pap to me.

Excuse my ignorance on the beer front, I only know how to drink it! hehe

 

yeah - budweiser - there are 2 kinds - this kind -
http://www.budweiser.com/

which is the pap lager

and the czech kind -
http://www.american.edu/TED/budweis.htm

is this the co-op brand ? -
http://www.czechvar.com/web/product/cms/czechvar-product/Products/Products.cms
edit - specifially - http://www.czechvar.com/web/product/cms/czechvar-product/Products/Products/Lahev_Czechvar__0_5l.cms

hope this helps

 

Just got back from Tescos and to prove my suspicion wrong. Vratislav can't actually BE Budvar cos its brewed in Prague not Ceske Budejovice - sluuurp - does taste very silimar though

Vratislav tastes a lot better than the King of Beers, American Bud, which tastes of nothing or perhaps soap suds.

This Czechvar really is Budvar I think for those markets where the yanks won the legal battle for the Budweiser/Bud name. The Coop stuff is just called Czech Lager.

 

I like Budvar. I can't say I've ever seen it Draught though.

Dos Equis is quite nice too.

I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Real Ales. All of the ones I've ever tasted have either been watery and bitter or chewy, flowery and yeasty.

When up at uni I developed a taste for Mild. There were several brands, one of which I particularly liked but I can't recall the name after all these years.

Sometimes a light lager is just what you want if it's hot. Brahma works just fine during a hot Brasilian summer !

GTM

 

Anyone tried the german lager they sell at Lidl? - can't quite remember the names but they're also produced under the german purity laws, are piss cheap, and taste great. I'm such a cheapskate.

I love real ale but i makes me fart so I drink lager.

Mild is just brown water in my experience, and stout turns your (my)poo black if you drink more than 6 pints

 

Graffen Walder - sounds like a small Esssex Town. It tastes ok.

 

"I wouldnt assume Lowenbrau draught is from abroad."

It didn't use to be. It is now, although it's bottled/canned here.

 

Not Cain's Dark Mild, a tasty Liverpool brew.

Not wrong there, kind of like the "Guinness effect".